REDUCED ONE PASEO DESERVES GREEN LIGHT

With “smart growth” and “suburban density” all the rage among city planners, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a project like Carmel Valley’s One Paseo would attract support from those dedicated to curbing sprawl and beautifying bedroom communities.

Instead, One Paseo, the “new Main Street” development promoted by Kilroy Realty, has unjustifiably met with derision from progressive local leaders like San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and County Supervisor Dave Roberts, as well as some residents. Fortunately, though, this worthy venture also enjoys substantial local backing and appears on track to finally come to fruition.

The 23-acre parcel on which the development would sit — the “last developable plot of land in Carmel Valley,” according to longtime resident Janette Littler — is sandwiched between El Camino Real, Del Mar Heights Road and High Bluff Drive, directly across from the Del Mar Highlands shopping center.

A mixed-use project incorporating office, home, and retail space — Trader Joe’s has already signed up as an anchor tenant — the urban-villagelike development would also include 2 acres of public plazas and 5 acres of open space. Kilroy expects the project to generate more than $600 million in economic activity, as well as some 3,800 construction jobs and nearly 1,600 permanent positions.

One Paseo, Littler told me, “will help support expansion of transit into Carmel Valley, will reduce our dependency on the car, and importantly provide a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that connects with the existing residential, office and retail in the adjacent areas.”

For the San Diego community once known as North City West, suffering as it does from the absence of anything resembling a Main Street, the walkable project — which Kilroy has scaled back from its original plans by 33 percent — seems a welcome respite from the endless row of low-slung office buildings lining El Camino Real, including my own.

But not everyone’s excited.

“This is an incredible expansion of what the community had in mind,” Filner thundered at a recent planning meeting, “and I don’t see any reason to reform the contract that we had in mind with the city of San Diego.”

Roberts was no more supportive, complaining that “the project still does not fit the community character of Carmel Valley. We all understand what quality of life is and what quality of life isn’t.”

But in this case, quality of life would be improved by a dense, quasi-urban core that will attract Carmelites to shopping, restaurants, and entertainment options that they — unlike their Del Martian neighbors to the west and their La Jollan friends to the south — simply do not currently enjoy.

As for the traffic concerns, the project’s environmental impact report concluded that delays at nearby intersections would increase only by a few seconds, only during rush hour, and only by 2030. In addition, Kilroy aims to install multiple stops for a future high-speed bus route, as well as bike paths and a shuttle bus.

The alternative to the ambitious project is yet another soul-less office park among dozens like it — surely a money-loser for Kilroy, given the commercial vacancy rate in the area, and for the community as well.

So as One Paseo continues to wend its way through the planning process, local officials should consider the project carefully and fairly — and recognize that its benefits far outweigh its costs.

MICHAEL M. ROSEN is an attorney in Carmel Valley. Contact him at michaelmrosen@yahoo.com